Third Rail festival brings new music, cinema and games to Reading

The one-day extravaganza of music, cinema and games will make its debut at Thames Promenade in Richfield Avenue on Saturday, July 5

Teeth of the Sea are one of the bands who will play the main stage at the Third Rail festival in July

A one-day music festival will be launched in Reading next month.

Reading Post features editor Caroline Cook finds out what’s in store

Hotly anticipated new festival Third Rail arrives in Reading next month and there’s plenty to get festival folk waving their wellies in excitement.

The one-day extravaganza of music, cinema and games will make its debut at Thames Promenade in Richfield Avenue on Saturday, July 5.

The main stage will be packed with bands and solo artists including experimental jazz band Polar Bear, dance-inducing guitar-laden pop outfit Oliver Wilde and electronic experts Lakker.

Also on the main stage are A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Crushed Beaks, Grumbling Fur, Black Channels, The Art Club, Teeth of the Sea, and Boxed In, who organiser Jo Bartlett tips as one to watch.

“Already gaining a reputation as a songwriter and producer, Oli Bayston (aka Boxed In), is starting to make waves with his own music,” she says.

Jo and pal Danny Hagan, who both come from Surrey, came up with the idea for Third Rail after the huge success of their Welsh festival Green Man, which launched in 2003.

The pair started their careers booking bands including Blur and The Stone Roses for an Aldershot arts centre before branching out into festivals. Third Rail is their latest project and plans are well under way.

“Preparations for Third Rail are going brilliantly,” says Jo. “We’ve been getting some really exciting confirmations over the last couple of weeks and can’t wait for July 5.

“The site is also beginning to bloom and we’re just starting to visualise how amazing all the different stages are going to look and sound on the day.”

Alongside the Main Stage there will also be a Fringe On Top stage showcasing bands including Firefly Burning and Sun Skeleton Jnr, and DJs including The Quietus DJs, Reading’s own Doubledotdash?! and Keylen.

There will also be a cinema tent with films curated by Philip Ilson, artistic director for the London Short Film Festival. The programme will include a selection of the best shorts of 2014 from the London Short Film Festival, showcasing drama, comedy and animation, and The Punk Singer, which follows Kathleen Hannah, lead singer of punk band Bikini Kill and outspoken feminist of the Riot Grrrrl movement.

There will also be screening of Sound it Out, a documentary portrait of the last vinyl shop in Teesside, Ghost Box Records, which features music and sound alongside animations and short clips, and Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode, created by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and filmmaker Nicholas Abrahams.

In the Talks Tent a panel of experts will be discussing the birth of indie and bands which featured on NME’s C86 cassette tape, first released in 1986.

“The panelists include some of the most important figures in the independent scene that brought artists such as The Smiths, Primal Scream, Oasis and Blur to the fore,” explains Jo.

“A particular stand-out will be the participation of Edwyn Collins from Orange Juice and Scotland’s legendary Postcard Records. Edwyn is perhaps most famous for the international smash hit A Girl Like You.”

Quirky fun will also come from the Video Games Carnival which will feature oversized fully working Gameboys, and the Ping Ping tournament where people can tuck in to orange squash and biscuits while watching the action.

Other foodie treats come from Reading’s Milk Bar and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, and The Bowler, who sell meatballs from their grass-powered van.

Tickets for the festival are £25 adults, £10 age 11-16 (youths), free for under 11s. Family tickets for two adults and two youths are £60. To book call (0118) 960 6060. Booking fees apply.

There will also be a Third Rail launch party at Milk in Merchants Place on Wednesday, June 11, from 8pm. Entry is free.

Win tickets to the Third Rail festival

We've teamed up with the organisers of Third Rail festival to give away three pairs of tickets to the event on Saturday, July 5.

Three lucky winners will be able to enjoy a day of top music, cinema and extra fun like 70s computer games, at Thames Promenade in Richfield Avenue.

The one-day music festival is new for this year and has been organised by Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan, who were also the brains behind the hugely successful Green Man festival which launched in Wales in 2003.

Third Rail will see hundreds of music lovers flocking to Thames Promenade to listen to acts like Lakker, Polar Bear and Grumbling Fur.

For more information and to book visit www.thirdrail.co.uk.

To be in with a chance of winning answer the following question:

Which Welsh festival is also the brainchild of Third Rail organisers Jo Bartlett and Danny Hagan?

a) Hay Festival

b) Green Man

c) Swn Fest

Send your answers together with your name, address and telephone number to carolinecook@trinitysouth.co.uk by midday on Wednesday, June 11. Winners details will be passed to the organisers to allocate prizes. Standard Trinity Mirror rules apply, see www.getreading.co.uk/competition-rules.